October 19, 2025
William G. Carter
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
In
the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the
dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim
the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable;
convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.
For
the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having
itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own
desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to
myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an
evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
Today’s memory verse is inscribed on our bulletin cover. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. It’s quite the verse. There’s nothing quite like it in the Bible.
Today’s Psalm is close. Psalm 119 is a long meditation on the value of God’s teaching. It has 176 verses, all of them grouped by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. God instructs us by wisdom through the texts of the teaching. We heard only eight verses from that psalm, which constitutes the longest chapter of the Bible. If there is a singular theme, it is: God’s words are good for us. The Torah – that is, the Instruction – saves our lives.
Today’s prophetic text takes this understanding forward. The prophet Jeremiah has taken note that, just because there’s a Bible, that doesn’t mean anybody reads it. Or that they follow it. Or that they understand it. Lamenting that this lack of engagement has led his nation into ruin, the prophet foresees a day when all of God’s people will know the Torah and understand the Torah. Not because it is written in a book, but because God has inscribed it upon their hearts.
Then we have this text, this memory text, from the second letter from an old pastor to a young preacher. We will call the old pastor “Paul.” The young preacher’s name is “Timothy.” It is clear they share a high regard for scripture. Paul speaks of the “sacred writings,” plural. He alludes that these writings come from different times, through different authors, addressing different topics in diverse ways.
Yet the scriptures share some common purposes. They are useful for teaching, that is, teaching the ways of God. They are texts intended for training – “training in righteousness,” he says. That is, they teach us how to live. Not just what to think but what to do. And then, Paul says something dramatic: “All scripture is breathed by God.”
For some, that’s why this is the memory verse. They believe God blew words onto the page; the text doesn’t specify this, but some folks have a high enough view of the Bible that this is what they believe. They overlook that that the original texts were written down in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, or that there are scores of competing translations, or that there are several wrinkles in the manuscripts. Some of those handwritten manuscripts disagree with others. A few are missing a verse or two. The Gospel of Mark has at least three different endings. And so on.
None of this undermines what Paul is saying. He is saying God “breathes.” The inspiration is the respiration. When we ordain elders, deacons, and pastors, we ask in effect, “Do you accept the Scriptures to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ – and God’s Word to you?” It’s that phrase “by the Holy Spirit” that matters. God’s Spirit breathes upon the text, within the text, and then upon us – and that’s how the words get written upon our hearts. God’s respiration is our inspiration.
The bottom line is that what we need to know is in the Book. By the Spirit of God, it can be a living Book. A life-giving Book. A saving, salvaging Book. That’s why we honor it.
And I have to say, the more we read the book, the more hidden treasures we find. I’m not talking about secret codes or ancient treasures, but treasures. Some of them are so human they are a hoot. Like Proverbs 22: “Make no friends with hotheads, lest you learn their ways and entangle yourself in a snare.” (22:24-25) Good advice! Given that, I can think of a few television channels to turn off.
Or there’s my favorite story of the prophet Elisha. Some Cub Scouts made fun of his bald head, so Elisha utters a curse. A mama bear comes out of the woods to teach them a lesson. Point is, don’t make fun of God’s prophet. Or else! The tale probably began as a campfire story to warn the kids.
There are little treasures, highly human. Last Thursday the Men’s Breakfast group finished an exhaustive reading of the Acts of the Apostles. We decided to read next one of the letters by Paul. So, we’ll start with the letter to the Philippians. I can’t wait to tell them there’s a swear word in chapter three (don’t look for it now). His point is not the swear word – he was writing about Jesus and how everything else smells like the stuff you scape off your shoe.
The point is God’s holiness is imparted to everyday humanness. There is holiness. And there is humanness. Just like Jesus, they are bound together as one. Let’s not tint the pages of this book in gold and put spotlights on it without reading it. The Bible is only as good as our engagement with it. Are we sinking into the pages so that God’s wisdom can sink into us? That’s what counts.
Our worship committee recently surveyed the Bibles in our pews. Some of them are worn out. That’s a great problem to have! A sanctuary with Bibles that are falling apart. I imagine you’ll help us replace them when the appeal is made. Because the Bible is good for us. When God breathes the ancient words of alive, we come alive. Faith, hope, and love come alive.
So, you might ask, why all this emphasis on the Bible? I’m glad you asked. Good question. Paul brings up the Bible because he knows all the other messages out there in the world. Without God’s instruction, a world left to its own impulses becomes ugly and twisted out of shape. Right before our text, right before Paul speaks so glowingly of the Bible, he describes what he calls his own “distressing times.” Here’s the list, from the beginning of chapter three:
For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unfeeling, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Timothy 3:2-5)
This is how he describes those who
live without God. They are totally turned in upon themselves. They abuse others.
They build themselves up while they tear others down. Some of them are so
intoxicated by their selfishness that they wrap themselves in religious talk as
they cut down their neighbors. Pretty horrifying, isn’t it? And it needs to be
said that all of us are prone to turn in upon ourselves. Without God, without
God’s instruction, that’s who we could become. That’s the human condition.
That’s the canine condition, too. Let me explain. We have two Springer spaniels in our home. Both are getting up in years, but they are lovely companions. They both like to have their ears rubbed. I mention that because that’s the phrase Paul uses to describe the beastly tendencies of the human animal – they have itchy ears.
Well, Pippa and Oakley like to have their ears scratched. It’s intoxicating. It gives them great pleasure. It’s the dog version of catnip. Scratch their ears. If you stop, they tap you with a paw. “Keep going! Don’t stop. Ooh, that feels so good. Yes, that’s it. Right there.”
And Paul says this is how some people are. They want their ears scratched. They listen only to what they want to hear. They change the channel if an adverse word is spoken. Either that, or they say, “You can’t trust the news” or “I have my own set of facts.” Or worse they say, “Just keep scratching my ears.” Keep me intoxicated by my own insulated experiences. Don’t try to teach me anything that would make me a better person. No, scratch my ears. Keep me entertained.
I was in the check out line at the market, buying some yogurt, and I noticed all the ear-scratching headlines of the tabloids. Elvis consorted with Martians, and the offspring walk among us. The here-today-and-gone-tomorrow celebrities are divorcing and remarrying. There are secret ingredients in your pantry to eliminate diabetes. There are flying saucers mentioned in the Bible. And so forth. Who pays any attention to these things? Those with itchy ears.
Paul’s counsel, woven all through
this letter to Timothy, is to stay grounded in what he calls “sound doctrine.”
This is that body of material that have its gravitational center in the love
and justice of the God we know through Jesus Christ. It’s an anchor when the
waves are pounding against the boat. It’s the call to love your neighbor when
others are trying to divide you. It’s the invitation to trust in God and his
ways when there are so many liars, scammers, and doomsayers.
The great reformer John Calvin said it best. The moment of his transformation began, he said, when God showed him he was teachable.[1] He took on an attitude of grateful receptivity. God has something to say. God has something to teach. We are not left to ourselves. Just like us, Calvin didn’t have to rely on his own wits to get through the day or sleep through the night. There is a greater Wisdom at work in the world. We access it by reading the Bible together.
So, we read the folktale of Elisha cursing the Cub Scouts. Rather than focus on the chaos, we discover there’s a great power in the Word of God than we first realized.
Or we read the multiple versions of Mark’s resurrection story and affirm he was doing his best to affirm something so great that it cannot be captured in words.
Or we read the apostle Paul writing to a church he loved. When we come across a saucy word, we know he is amplifying his language to tell us how much he’s willing to give up to claim the transforming power of God.
The Bible is just that useful. So,
let’s read it. Let’s read it together. Let’s find ways to increase our understanding
and then let’s live out of the treasure chest that generations before us have preserved
for our benefit. For if there’s anything scripture can teach us, it’s this.
When your heart and mind are full, your ears don’t itch.
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